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FC: Chris Peyton Matt Crone | U.S. v. Nixon

1: Table of Contents | Background Info Supreme Court Case Aftermath

2: Background Info | US President Richard M Nixon Watergate Scandal His administration broke into the Democratic National Headquarters in an attempt to bug the phones and wiretap the rooms They failed the first time because of a janitor During their second attempt they were caught

3: When Nixon was reelected in January 1973 the same month the trials for the Watergate burglaries were set for . Then in February the Senate voted to create their own investigation of the Watergate scandal. | Background Info | The major event that happened next was that Alexander Butterfield came out with a televised testimony stating that Nixon secretly taped the White House. Meaning that any conversation the president had with his aides where recorded. This brought great concern to the courts and they quickly subpoenaed the tapes.

4: With president Nixon refusing to hand over the tapes. He claimed it was his presidential executive privilege whether or not to release the information. With cox being the prosecutor attorney, being persistent and not giving up this went to court. Nixon was trying to appeal his having to bring the tapes to court.

5: On October 19 Nixon released a public statement saying he would ask the Supreme court to review the tapes. That instead he would offer a compromise. Stating he would write a summary of all the tapes and had that over instead. The court refused this order. | A summery or the real thing?

6: Nixon was under heavy fire with the Watergate scandal. He made the Attorney General resign and Cox eventually got fired, with a total of 4 people out of office, he was doing anything to save himself.

7: With the majority of the focus on the tapes now with the Watergate being the reason for the tapes, the Supreme court was still in the same path of getting the tapes from Nixon. | Nixon finally handed them over however when he did his Secretary Rose Woods had accidentally erased a window of 18.5 minutes of the tape. | EVIDENCE

8: SUPREME COURT DECISION | No person including the President is above the law. The President can not use "Executive Privilege" to withold evidence relevant to a criminal trial.

9: To avoid being impeached Nixon resigned as President on August 9, 1974.

10: With the executive privilege dating back to 1776 with our first president George Washington it has been a gray area. Thats when Nixon used that as his defense it was his use of trying to be above the law.

11: Does Nixon have to turn over his white house tapes? Did the tapes give proof of Nixon’s participation in the Watergate scandal? Did Nixon have to release the information? The steps before the supreme court The Senate committee asked the federal district court in the district of Columbia to confirm or uphold the subpoena

12: oConstitutional questions Is the president above the law? Do government executive officials have executive privilege Did the courts- the judicial branches of government- have authority to review and deny a president’s claim of executive privilege | The supreme courts is the picture to decide now

13: Ruling not in the Presidents Favor | With a land slide of all against Nixon he had to turn them over. However the chief justice at the time had to let one of the associates act as head for this case. They want Nixon's chief to be biasis in the case decision.

14: With congress on the move to impeach Nixon, making this be the first impeachment of a president of all time NIxon later resigned instead. On August 8 he made this a televised announcement to the American people. | Nixon feeling the heat from the people and Congress!

15: The House Judiciary Committee after the courts ruling, passed 3 articles of impeachment, accusing the president of obstructing justice, abusing power and unconstitutionally defying subpoenas. | Nixon's last option

16: Aftermath | 1.Development that the executive privilege cannot be used 2.First president to resign from office – set a precedent for the public 3.Clinton v. NYC court- presidents are still held under law, Congress tried him for impeachment but found him not guilty in accordance to the law

17: 4.Cheney v. US District Court (2004)- Cheney ordered to reveal papers that showed how he had developed his energy policy 5.2nd article executive branch- deals with executive power; 6.US constitution- sixth amendment

18: The last major occuring incident was with Bill; Clinton with a sex scandal with a White House intern. When his aides were asked to be brought in for questioning he said that they were protected under the president. Which later cause a huge encounter with law and Congress. | Aftermath Cont